When former Braves pitcher John Rocker revealed why he would never join a New York team

On Dec. 27 1999, Sports Illustrated published a story containing John Rocker's opinion on the city of New York. This opinion was extremely controversial and didn't sit well with the baseball world.

When asked about the possibility of playing in New York, Rocker said he'd rather retire. When explaining his reasoning, Rocker embarked upon a bizarre and controversial monolog.

Here's what he said:

"Imagine having to take the 7 train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some q***r with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids."

Washington Nationals v Atlanta Braves

He went on to say:

It's depressing... The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners... You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English.

"Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?"

Following the interview, John Rocker apologized for his comments. Unsurprisingly, the apology was not well-received by the public.

"Remember how insanely openly racist you could be in the late 90’s early 2000’s? I feel like most people don’t. John Rocker’s punishment for this was he had to say sorry." - PMG

John Rocker took aim at Asian women in the same interview

During the same interview, John Rocker shared some more unpopular views.

When asked what he hates the most about New York, he recounted that it was the traffic. While answering questions, the pitcher was driving and noticed a car overtaking from a different lane.

"So many dumb a***s don't know how to drive in this town," he said. "They turn from the wrong lane. They go 20 miles per hour. It makes me want - Look! Look at this idiot! I guarantee you she's a Japanese woman."

"How bad are Asian women at driving?" he continued.

Always happy to share his views on a host of topics, Rocker was one of the least popular players in the MLB during his career. These kinds of comments are doubtless the reason why.

The only encouragement one can take from all this is that times have thankfully changed.